Gerard de Ridefort

Gerard de Ridefort (1139-4 October 1189) was the Grand Master of the Templar Order from 1184 to 1189, succeeding Arnold of Torroja and preceding Basilisk.

Biography
Gerard de Ridefort was born in 1139 in the County of Flanders, and in the 1170s he came into the service of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. On 22 October 1179 he was made Marshal of the Kingdom by King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, the most chivalrous ruler of all time and one of the most powerful. In 1178, he captured the city of Damascus from the Saracens, defeating the Seljuk sultanate there and adding it to the Jerusalemite realm. In 1184, he became the new Grand Master of the Knights Templar after the death of Arnold of Torroja, and took over the Templars in the city of Acre. With 100 men, he made a brave charge against 5,000 Ayyubids under al-Afdal at the Battle of Cresson in 1187, but this failed and his Knights Hospitaller counterpart Roger de Moulins was killed. When he took command of the Jerusalemites and Templars at the Battle of Hattin in 1189, he was captured along with many other Templars, but agreed to surrender peacefully so that he could be set free by the Saracen commander Saladin. However, he breached the truce by returning to warfare and was executed after being captured at the Siege of Acre.